the post break up routine
by a cold day in december
Summary: After Ally's latest boyfriend ends it with her, she does what she always does when it happens; turns to Austin for their usual "post break up routine." Except this time, it has a twist. / Auslly. Oneshot.


**disclaimer: **I don't own a thing.

**music: **love is you – thomas godoj

**prompt: **body: forehead (it comes from _kiss_bingo_ over at livejournal.)

**a/n: **It seems lately you guys don't really like my oneshots... I don't know I'm just getting that kind of vibe. Oh well. I'm sure you do, I think it's just me :) oh and sorry for mistakes, it was a little rushed...

(**Edit:** Heh, hello again. To anonymous reviewer who I would otherwise pm; I realised the mistakes and fixed them, so how about you read this again? And I prefer to look after my own work, even if I get it wrong sometimes. It's a personal thing. P.S, I did apologise in advance for mishaps. Thanks.)

* * *

**the post break up routine**

* * *

:::

The clock beeps loudly and Austin's mind takes a moment to register where he is. He looks around his blue bedroom with tired eyes, and dives back under the warm covers of his duvet. Snuggling it around himself and closing his eyes to make everything seem in complete darkness, he takes a deep breath.

Austin definitely remembers that yesterday there had been an Ally in his bed, and he wonders where she may have gone.

He tries to block out the sound of her sobs, pressing the heels of his hands firmly against his eyes.

She'd come round late last night, tiptoeing towards him with red, puffy eyes. Not that it had mattered about being quiet; he had his own apartment after all. He had looked at her briefly before pulling her into a tight embrace, right in the middle of the living room.

He let her cry until he felt her legs collapsing from under her, and then carried her to the bed. Austin knew that she had cried over her last boyfriend. She'd been _'fine'_ for almost a week, and he had expected her to explode sometime soon.

He tucked her in, just like the good friend he was, and turned to go and sleep on the couch. But then she had whispered _Austin_ so feebly and he turned to see her, arms outstretched and face sad. _Cuddle_ she had said with that same expression and he couldn't say no to her.

He never really could.

So he'd slipped in beside her, still in his shirt and sweat pants and pulled her close to him. She had buried her face in his neck, breathing deeply and desperately trying not to cry. After a while, Austin's neck became a little damp from her inevitable tears and he stroked her shoulder, rocking her gently.

She had fallen asleep after a long time. He recalled from their group sleepover's —it had been at least two years since the last one now— that it always took Ally a very long time to get to sleep.

And Austin lay, Ally curled up into his side and wondered how long it would be before people stopped hurting Ally.

* * *

He walked into the kitchen, the smell of pancakes hitting him instantly. His lips curved into a smile as he watched Ally from behind. She had changed into his clothes, something she almost always did. Today it was her favourite hoodie —of his— and a pair of her own shorts that he recalls she was wearing yesterday.

Her hair was slightly damp and curling at the ends, and Austin figured she must have had a shower.

Walking up behind her, he placed a hand at the back of her neck, and tried to pretend he didn't relish in making her shiver. "Hey." He said simply, watching her add chocolate sauce to her own pancakes.

"I was going to bring these to you, y'know, breakfast in bed." She said instead, not looking at him.

"Well, I'm here now." Ally finally turns around, giving him a weak smile. "How you holding up?" Austin knows better than to ask if she's okay, that's a stupid move and he learnt from it years ago.

"Better. Thanks for last night." She hops onto the island-counter in the kitchen, something she has always loved to do, and starts to slowly eat her pancakes. Austin glances at the clock to see it's eleven, later than he usually gets up.

"Anytime Ally, you know that." He gazes at her deeply and she looks away to hide her blush. _Of course she knows that._

"Are you busy today?" Ally asks after a short silence. He hears the unspoken words. He's been too busy for anyone recently —stupid schedule, stupid management— too busy for Ally.

"No." He lies. He's gotten better at it. "All clear today, for once." He smiles and watches how the light in her eyes seems to just get that bit brighter. Being shouted at by his agent is going to be so worth it when the day is through.

"So what are we going to do today?" He asks with a mouth full of pancakes. She rolls her eyes but he knows that she understands anyway.

"The usual post-breakup routine." Ally says with a rueful smile. Swallowing the last of his pancakes, his puts his plate in the sink and kisses Ally on her forehead on the way out.

* * *

Austin thinks showers really are the best place for thinking. The cool tiles and the steam to clear your head — it's all very therapeutic. That's something Ally would say, at any rate.

He puts his head directly under the shower nozzle, letting the hot water cleanse him. He'd made the calls he needed to and was surprised that there wasn't as much fuss as he had expected. His agent had even admitted that he probably deserved a day off anyway.

Ally's quota of their partnership had been filled, considering she'd written all the songs for his newest album. All Austin had to do now was record them, but it never really was as simple as that. Avoiding getting shampoo in his eyes, Austin thinks about how many times he's seen Ally this past month.

It's a small number.

He'd love to blame it on her spending all of her time with her former boyfriend, but he knows that's not true. If he had the time off, she'd drop anything she was doing with _him_ in a heartbeat for Austin.

It's his stupid lifestyle that makes time seem like such a small thing, something that can just slip through his fingers, like warm, dry sand on a summer's day.

Turning off the water, he steps out of the shower and shakes his head like a sodden animal. Whenever he goes swimming he does the same thing, and Ally loves it. She giggles and squeals when the water gets all over her, but once she'd admitted how ultimately cute she thought it was.

It was both a sad and happy day for Austin; the boy who has feelings for his best friend.

After changing and making himself look decent, he goes into his room for find a sticky note taped to the door. He smiles. Every time Ally comes over, without fail, she leaves him messages via the medium of sticky notes.

Austin finds it adorable really.

_I get to pick the movies. I've made the popcorn and everything. Get down here so we can snuggle. Oh, and you hid the blanket last time, so that's your responsibility. — Ally xx_

Austin has always known their relationship has bordered on that awfully thin line labelled _more than friends, _but he can never bring himself to care. No one sees them in these intimate moments — not even Trish or Dez. If they want to snuggle, they will, and Austin certainly has no objections.

And if Ally gets comfort from it too, well then that's just a bonus.

He brings their favourite blanket, light blue with clouds, similar to the cloud watching club Ally used to attend, back when they were fifteen. Where _had _five years gone?

Meeting her on the sofa, he sees her sitting with his hoodie almost engulfing her, and he laughs. The sound catches Ally's attention and she looks at him blankly.

"Does somebody need a hug?" Austin tries and fails to keep the slightly mocking tone out of his voice, but it doesn't matter because Ally smiles. He's still kind of the same boy from five years ago.

She nods her head yes and Austin moves the DVD remote from where it had been laying next to her. He falls onto the sofa ungracefully and she immediately curls up beside him, her legs resting atop his and his arm securely around her.

Ally rubs her eyes briefly and then presses play on the remote, starting the movie. "Hey Ally?" Austin says as the opening credits begin. He registers that they're about to watch _Toy Story_ and smiles.

"Yeah?" She says in return, looking up at him.

"How come you always run to me when you need someone?" He kept his tone soft, not wanting to give her the wrong impression. It really wasn't often that he got to comfort Ally, apart from all the breakups, but he didn't mind at all.

She pondered his question for a moment. "Well, you're you." He didn't speak, waiting for her to continue, which she inevitably would.

He loved Ally, really, but boy was she a talker.

"You're my best friend, I automatically come to you. When I have news, when I'm happy, lonely, sad, anything. It's always going to be you." She says. He finds deeper meaning in her words but wills himself not to over-think this.

"Trish, well she's not great with the whole feelings business, but you are. Plus, there's this whole thing," She motions to the way they're sitting, "Where you can hold me, look after me, protect me, and no one else can do that."

He looks at her genuinely, and the feeling of wanting to smother her with love, to adore her, takes over him. He tries to distract himself from it by squeezing her once and whispering, "Thank you."

Ally whispers _you're welcome_ in his shoulder and shifts to get comfortable as the film starts.

They spend the next hours watching the second and third films, until it's dark and he can feel that Ally's happier. This is what they do every time Ally gets dumped. They have already had their mandatory popcorn fight, stuffed their faces with ice cream and giggled over nothing. It's just what they do in their post break up activities.

It's after all that; that's when it happens.

It's just like something out of a film, he goes to brush his lips against her cheek, whilst saying her name, but instead she turns to him, and then suddenly they're kissing.

That's when it stops being like a movie.

Instead of pulling back, Ally looks at him, her orbs bright, before his eyes meet her closed eyelids. Then he shuts his eyes too and Ally deepens the kiss, and it's honestly everything he's ever wanted, _she's _honestly everything he's ever wanted, and she's here, warm and real and bright and for this moment, _his._

"_Ally_." He says, pulling back and gasping for breath, everything being so intense, it was all getting to him. "I can never, _ever_ go back now, you know that don't you?"

She looks at him eyes wide and her fingers gently brush the hair out of his eyes. "I never, _ever_, _want _to go back." He searches her face for any kind of doubt and finds none.

"Be mine?" He says, because there are no other words for it. He doesn't just want her there, as something next to him, alongside him, he wants her to a be _part _of him, more so than she is already.

She looks at him seriously. "I always was. I still am. God, Austin." Ally pulls him into another kiss and he wonders when his world turned upside down.

"I've never wanted anything more than this." Ally says sincerely and he can't _not _believe her. "I'm yours. You're mine." She says simply.

"That sounds so amazing when you say it." Austin says and she giggles. "It's true. You're so goddamn beautiful I don't even know what to do with myself sometimes and now..."

They spend the longest time just looking at each other, drinking each other in.

He shuts off the DVD player and takes her hand, and they walk further into his apartment.

It's dark and he's tired and all he wants is another excuse to hold her close. So he tells her that, in not so many words.

"C'mon, let's sleep."

* * *

Austin pulls her close, rain pounding on the windows and he can feel her breathing on the hollow space between his collar bones, her hair fanning out all around them. The rain drowns out anything they would've said, causing them to lapse into silence.

He focuses on her rhythmic breathing, her hand holding his tightly and once again kisses her forehead.

Her smile curves along his body and he feels it, so close and wonderful. He lifts her chin gently, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

"It's always been you." He says.

"I know." Her voice is rich and warm and sleepy and Austin knows that waking up next to her, his girlfriend, will make him the happiest person alive.

She cuddles closer to him, and he doesn't really know how but they seem to wind around each other, tangled up limbs pressed together. It makes him beam.

"You know I love you, don't you?" Ally says into the darkness and he shifts so he can see her face once more.

"You do?" He asks. The _I thought it was just me_ is left unsaid.

"Of course." Ally breathes. Her tone is still matter-of-fact, even in its haze-filled state. "They were just distractions... because I thought... well I thought I could never have the real thing."

In the silence he can almost hear both their hearts pounding. "I'm always going to be here Ally. Always."

"I know." She says again, because she does.

:::

_Love is you / Seeing things like you do / Waking up next to you / Wanna give you all / All that I am / Love is you / You turn this world in two / Something I never knew / A beauty surrounds you / Love is you_

* * *

**a/n: **I'm not going to lie to you, I'm really proud of this, and weirdly, I really love it. It's weird because I don't actually _love _everything I put out here. I mean, I love it, but I don't _love _it, you know? Haha. I hope everyone likes it too c:

**Please, please review! It means a lot and I love you all for it c:**

**P.S: **OH MY GOD. HAS EVERYONE SEEN THE ALBUMS&AUDITIONS PROMO? OH MY GOD AUSLLY FEELS OK.

-— Sophie.


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